“What the hell is going on?” said Alexandra, her face drawn and tight as she held Felix close. She had curved around him, almost as if she wanted to shield his body with her own.
“Talk later,” I said, jogging past them to the back door. “Run now.”
I pushed open the door just as my van and Murdo’s SUV skidded to a halt in the narrow alley behind the strip mall. Robert was driving my van, and Murdo was behind the wheel of his blue SUV.
“Let’s go!” I said, running to the back doors of my van. “Jill and Rusk, get in the van. There will be enough room for Jill to lie down in the back. Alexandra, Vander, Russell, get in Rory’s SUV.”
“But…” started Russell.
I heard one of the ice walls shatter, and I shot a look up and down the alley. None of the orcs, anthrophages, or undead had found their way back here yet, but that was going to change any second.
“Goddamn it, move!” I said, wrenching the van’s back doors open. Russell nodded and helped Rusk get Jill into the back, and then Vander, Russell, and Alexandra ran to Murdo’s SUV. I raced around the side of my van and threw open the driver’s door.
“Your wife and son are in the SUV,” I said to Robert. “Move over. I’m driving.”
He didn’t protest and slid to the passenger seat. I wondered why he had listened to me. He was a captain of a Duke’s men-at-arms and a Graysworn, and I was…
I was the woman who had just blasted my way through a small army of Lorenz’s goons, and Robert Ross had seen me do it.
Huh. Guess that was why Robert listened.
I grabbed the wheel with one hand and seized the CB mike with the other. “Rory?”
“We’re ready,” said Murdo. “Let’s go!”
I nodded and hit the gas, and the van rolled forward. The alley was just wide enough that I could squeeze the van between the buildings and the rows of dumpsters. “Where are we going?”
“I have a place in Milwaukee where we can lay low,” said Murdo. “Once we get there, I…”
A flicker of gray at the end of the alley caught my eye.
Three anthrophages darted into sight, raising their AK-47s.
“Down!” I barked, both to everyone in my van and Murdo and his passengers, and I slammed on the gas. The acceleration shoved me into my seat, Robert cursed, and I heard Jill yelp. The van’s old engine roared, and the big vehicle shot forward.
The anthrophages hesitated for a split second at the sight of the van hurtling towards them, which was a mistake. They should have either dodged or raised their guns and sprayed the windshield with bullets. By the time they decided to shoot, it was too late. My big Royal Motors Caravanserai slammed into them at about fifty miles an hour, and the shock of the impact shot through the vehicle. The fender knocked the anthrophages to the ground, and then I felt the double thump as the wheels ran over them.
Well, the fender was already dented from that one time I ran over an anthrophage in Los Angeles. I suppose the van had just collected a few more dents.
The van shot into the street, and I wrenched the wheel to the left, the tires squealing. If I had taken the turn any sharper, the van would have tipped over, but I kept control, and we sped away from the strip mall. There was no sign of the white vans, or of any anthrophages or orcish mercenaries. There were plumes of black smoke rising from the strip mall’s parking lot, and in the distance, I heard the wail of sirens. Someone had called Homeland Security, probably because of all the gunfire and explosions, and once they realized what had happened, they would contact the Elven nobles, who would then mobilize to defend from an invasion.
Or maybe not. I remembered the undead orcs rising from the ground, the green light settling in their eyes. Lorenz was a Gatekeeper. He could open a rift way back to Venomhold, and he and his goons could retreat to the Shadowlands. Hell, the corpses could even walk away under their own power, thanks to the necromancer. If Lorenz was quick, he could vanish entirely with all the evidence, leaving Homeland Security to puzzle over some wrecked cars, bullet casings, and severe property damage.
A cold feeling settled into the pit of my stomach. Worse than usual, I mean. I felt pretty cold and lightheaded after all the magic I had used, but this was a different feeling.
Dread.
Victor Lorenz had been there for Russell. Which meant he knew who I really was. Which also meant he had been there to kidnap Russell. He might have told Nicholas already. Nicholas might have ordered him to carry out the operation.
What the hell was I going to do now?
I decided to start with a question.
“Rory,” I said, picking up the CB mike. “Where are we going?”
“Turn left at the third stoplight,” said Murdo. “I’ve got a safe house we can use until we figure out what we’re doing next.”
“Got it,” I said.
But what were we going to do next?
I had no idea, but I had better figure it out quick.
Chapter 5: Safe House
“All right, guys,” I said, glancing back at Robert in the passenger seat and Rusk, Vander, and Jill in the back. “It’s question and answer time.”
“Wait,” said Robert. “Ask your friend if Alexandra and Felix are all right.”
I blinked, felt foolish, and nodded and squeezed the mike button. “Did Alexandra and the baby get through okay? And Russell?”
There was a pause.
“They’re fine,” said Murdo. “The baby slept right through it.”
Robert snorted. “Six months the kid doesn’t sleep through the night, and then a damned gunfight doesn’t wake him up.”
I heard Alexandra laugh in the background.
“And Russell?” I said.
“He’s fine,” said Murdo. He paused again. “But I really think you two need to have a long talk.”
“Later,” I said, and I dropped the mike and glanced back at Robert. “Now I have some questions.”
Robert nodded. “I thought you might.”
For some reason, he glanced at Vander, as did Rusk and Jill.
“After what we just saw,” said Vander, his voice quiet, “I think if we want to survive, we must answer all of Miss Moran’s questions freely.”
Robert frowned. “Those orcs…you think they can follow us?”
“It is within the realm of possibility,” said Vander. “They had two wizards with them, one human, one Elven. If they have the right spells, they will be able to work out a way to follow us.”
Well. Great.
“Okay,” I said as the van rolled up to a red light. “Rusk. You go first. What the hell are you doing here?”
Rusk cleared his throat, looked at his daughter, at Vander, at Robert, and then at me.
“Come on, Rusk,” I said. “You already know everything about me.”
“Not everything,” said Rusk. “The kind of destruction you just unleashed in that parking lot…you shouldn’t have been able to do that, Miss Moran.”
“He’s right, you know,” said Robert. “I’ve seen what the men of the Wizard’s Legion can do. Only a few of them can use that kind of magic. You fought like a…”
“Like a what?” I said. There was more of an edge to my voice than I would have liked.
“Like an Elven noble, to be blunt,” said Robert.
The light turned green. I drove through it, Murdo’s SUV keeping pace next to me. Murdo accelerated to pass me. I wondered why he did that, then realized that he was the one who actually knew where we were going. It would make more sense for me to follow him.
“Okay,” I said. “I think we can agree we’ve got problems, and the more we know, the better chance we have of getting out of this mess.” The others nodded. “So. Rusk. What the hell were you and Jill doing at that clinic?”
Again, Rusk looked at Vander, who nodded.
“All right,” said Rusk. “I…told you what happened during the Archon attack. My wife was killed,” Jill closed her eyes, “and Jill was badly hurt. The doctors despaired of her. H
is lordship tried to use his magic on Jill, but even he could do nothing.” He looked at his daughter. “I…confess I despaired of hope.”
“It’s all right, Papa,” said Jill, her voice unsteady. My van didn’t have the smoothest ride, and I hoped the jouncing didn’t worsen any internal injuries she had. “It’s been awful for me, but it must have been awful for you, too.”
Rusk took a deep breath, blinking. “Yes, well…but we must do we what must, yes? Anyway, about a year ago, when you had your long-term assignment from his lordship to…”
“Don’t talk about that,” I said.
“Don’t be afraid,” said Vander. His eyes met mine in the rear-view mirror. “It’s well known in certain circles that Lord Kaethran Morvilind regularly employs human shadow agents.”
Evidently, Vander was part of those circles.
“Okay. Keep going,” I said to Rusk.
“A few months after you started that long-term assignment,” said Rusk, “your brother Russell approached me.”
I frowned. “What did he want with you?”
“To find you, of course,” said Rusk. “He was quite concerned about you. I gathered that you disappeared without a trace, which he said was uncharacteristic.”
Again, I felt that stab of uneasy guilt. I had disappeared without a trace, quite deliberately. At the time I had thought it for the best. I hadn’t considered what my disappearance might do to Russell. I had just thought he would accept it and move on with his life.
Not once had I ever considered that he might go looking for me.
And maybe he had stumbled across Lorenz and his people while looking for me.
God, was this entire mess my fault?
“I told him nothing, of course,” said Rusk. “His lordship places a great premium on his privacy.” There was an understatement. “Then Russell started following me.”
“What?” I said.
“I believe the legal term is stalking,” said Vander in a dry voice. “We discussed it at some length.”
“He found out about Jill,” said Rusk. “Russell said he knew someone who could help her. The thought was utterly ridiculous, of course…but I was so very tired. What did Jill and I have to lose? Russell introduced us to Lord Vander,” Vander sighed, “er, Mr. Vander…and he did it. He healed Jill.” He looked at Jill and smiled. “Mr. Vander actually did it. In gratitude to Russell, I asked his lordship if I could expect your return, and he said you were still alive. I was able to pass that on to Russell, at least. Small repayment for what he and Mr. Vander did for us, but it was still something.”
“Yeah,” I said. Murdo turned right, and I followed suit. “All right. Captain Ross. How did you get mixed up in this?”
“Same way that Mr. Rusk did,” said Robert. “You know that Alexandra was pregnant the last time I saw you.”
“Yeah,” I said. I could just make out Alexandra’s silhouette through the rear window of Murdo’s SUV. She was hunched over as if holding the baby tight against her. A cold chill went through me. If I hadn’t been there, if I hadn’t messed up Lorenz’s plans, then little Felix Ross might have caught a stray bullet from an AK-47. Or if Alexandra had gotten in the way, then Lorenz would have shot her and the baby.
He would have shot her son in front of her.
The cold chill turned to rage. All those pregnant women and children who had died in the Ducal Mall a hundred and sixty years ago (a little less from everyone else’s perspective) flashed through my mind. I had killed Sergei Rogomil for that. And I was going to kill Victor Lorenz. I didn’t care if I had to blow off his head when he was sitting between Nicholas Connor and the Forerunner himself, I was going to kill Victor Lorenz for this.
Robert’s expression turned cautious. Something of my feelings must have shown on my face.
“Go on,” I said, forcing the emotions down.
“Well, he had trouble sleeping through the night,” said Robert. “The doctors said it wasn’t anything to worry about at first. But then I noticed Felix would sometimes stop breathing in the middle of the night.”
“Can babies get sleep apnea?” I said.
“They can,” said Robert, “but this was worse. His left lung hadn’t formed properly in the womb. There’s some long Latin name for it that I still can’t pronounce right…”
Vander said a long Latin name that my brain promptly refused to remember.
“Yeah, that,” said Robert. “Anyway, it can be fixed, but the surgery has something like a fifty to seventy percent mortality rate. Alexandra and I were going to risk it, but then Russell found us.”
“How did he find you?” I said.
“Look…you and Russell are going to need to have a serious talk,” said Robert. I gave him a look. “But let’s just say Russell was tracing your movements over the year before you disappeared. You remember when we had that meeting in the coffee house last February?” I nodded. “Russell found the security recording from the coffee house, and then found my picture on Duke Carothrace’s website.”
“Did he, now?” I said, unsettled. Where had he learned to do that kind of surveillance?
“Have to admit I almost shot the kid when he showed up,” said Robert. Vander snorted at that. “But then he explained who you were and that you had disappeared, and I had to tell him that I hadn’t seen you since we did that job together last year.” He rubbed his jaw. “Right then, the doctor happened to call, and Alexandra took it and started crying. I almost shut the door in Russell’s face, but somehow he got me talking about Felix…and then the next thing I knew, Alexandra and I were driving to Milwaukee to meet Nathan Vander.”
“He’s good at that,” murmured Vander. “The boy could talk the Devil into selling Hell at a discount rate.” Rusk bobbed his head in agreement.
“Yeah, but I’m glad he is,” said Robert. “It worked. Vander was able to save Felix. No surgery, no complications, nothing. His lungs are as good as new.”
“Which they are, technically,” said Vander, “seeing as he’s nine months old.”
Robert grinned. “Well, he still only sleeps the night sometimes. But when he wakes up and starts crying his head off, he does it with a healthy set of lungs.”
“Okay,” I said. “Now I have an obvious question.” I glanced back at Vander. “Who the hell are you and how can you heal people? You were in the Wizard’s Legion, yeah?”
Through the rearview mirror, I saw Rusk, Robert, and Vander all share a glance.
“I’ll tell you who I am,” said Vander with a sigh. “Seems only fair, since I know who you are. But not yet. Not until we get to Mr. Murdo’s safehouse.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
“Because the answer might cause you to crash the van and I don’t want to die in a car accident,” said Vander.
I blinked and decided not to press it.
“All right,” I said at last.
“But we’ve got some questions for you, Miss Moran,” said Robert. “And I want some answers.”
“I’ll bet you do.” I sighed. “Go ahead and ask. You seem to know all about me already thanks to Russell.”
“First question,” said Robert. “What the hell is going on?”
Funny, that was my first question, too.
But I think Robert wanted to know a different answer than I did.
“Look,” I said. “I can tell you, but the information is dangerous. Like, really dangerous.”
“Even more dangerous than the things you told me at that coffee house?” said Robert, referring to the Dark Ones and Venomhold and Natalya Karst.
“Yes,” I said at once.
“Someone just tried to kill my wife and son,” said Robert, his voice hardening. “We are way the hell past dangerous.” Rusk nodded his agreement.
That was a good argument.
“All right,” I said. “The guy in charge of those orcs and anthrophages is a high-ranking Rebel named Victor Lorenz. You know the Rebels have a base in Venomhold.” Robert nodded. He had seen it firsthand,
but Rusk look startled. “Lorenz is one of their Gatekeepers. He’s possessed by a Dark One, and he can open a rift way back to Venomhold whenever he wants. That’s why Homeland Security won’t find anything when they go to the strip mall. Lorenz and his Elven friend will have retreated back to Venomhold and taken all the evidence with them.”
“What is he doing in Milwaukee?” said Robert.
“He’s not here for you or your family or Rusk or Vander,” I said. “You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think he’s here for Russell.”
Robert’s frown deepened. “Why?”
I let out a sigh, considering how to phrase my answer. “The reason I disappeared for the last year is that I’m on a long-term job for Lord Morvilind.” That was true, though it definitely wasn’t the entire truth. “He has a grand plan to screw the Archons over somehow, and I’m part of it. So, I’ve been screwing with the Rebels for the last year, and I’ve really pissed some of them off.” I left out the part where I’d helped Nicholas twice and had to help him one more time. “Lorenz is one of them, and he’s already tried to have me killed a couple of times.”
“Then why go after Russell?” said Robert, and then he scowled as he answered his own question. “Leverage. Typical Rebel trick. If he captures Russell, he can make you do whatever he wants.”
“Bingo,” I said.
“That despicable,” said Robert.
“That’s Lorenz and the Rebels,” I said.
“What about Dr. and Mrs. Marney?” said Rusk.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ll have to check on them as soon as possible.”
Robert frowned, and then blinked. “Russell said they were in Florida for the next two weeks, so…wait. You didn’t know any of this was going on?”
“No,” I said. “I…we were in town tracking down some of Lorenz’s money. I wanted to disrupt his operations. He’s renting a warehouse a couple of blocks from the clinic. When we drove past, I saw Rusk walking alone and thought it was unusual, so I followed him and saw Russell. Then Lorenz showed up.”
“Dear God,” said Rusk. “If you hadn’t been there…we would all have been killed.”
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